..Chanderpaul, Barnwell and Reifer hit half-centuries

By BRIJ PARASNATH in Trinidad & Tobago
Enterprising fifties by Shivnarine Chanderpaul (82), Christopher Barnwell (75) and Raymon Reifer (64) propelled the Guyana Jaguars to an invincible position and set the stage for the reigning champions to register an outright victory over the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force in their WICB PCL Fourth round encounter at the Queen’s Park Oval, yesterday.The Jaguars amassed 475 in their first innings and secured a lead of 265 runs over the Red Force who now faces an uphill battle to avoid a crushing defeat on their home turf.. Having made 210 in their first innings, the Red Force were 51 for 2 after 19 overs in their second innings. Kyle Hope and Narsingh Deonarine are the not out batsmen on 22 and 10 respectively.
The Red Force are still behind by 214 runs with eight wickets intact, having lost opener Jeremy Solozano LBW to Reifer for one (1 for 5) and Yannic Cariah caught by Hetmyer off the bowling of leftarm spinner Veerasammy Permaul for 16 (2 for 32).
The stage is set for an intriguing battle on the fourth and final day today but the advantage is still with the Guyana Jaguars whose bowlers must be fired up to attack as much as possible while the Red Force batsmen will be in defensive mood to avoid defeat.
While former Test openers Leon Johnson (92) and Assad Fudadin (94 not out) dominated the second day’s play and helped the Jaguars to establish a slim first innings lead of 23 runs at the end of the second day’s play on Saturday, yesterday definitely belonged to Chanderpaul, Barnwell and Reifer.
Fudadin got to the coveted triple-figure but added only eight runs to his overnight total when he became debutant fast bowler Uhtman Muhammad first First Class victim, caught behind by wicketkeeper Steven Katwaroo for 102 and the Jaguars total at 249 for 4 after 97.1 overs.
Overall, he batted for 349 minutes and smashed two sixes and seven fours off 257 balls received. The gritty left-hander celebrated his career fifth First Class century and third for Guyana.
Veteran Chanderpaul appeared to be on a mission to put the Jaguars in an impregnable position and was in his element as he found the gaps at will during his entertaining knock.
Playing in his 350th First Class match and 570th innings; Chanderpaul, however; was denied his 72nd FC hundred when he was adjudged LBW to leg spinner Imran Khan. He sparkled with an invaluable 82 (195m, 182 balls, 7x4s) and it was his 133rd FC fifty in his 570th First Class innings.
Overall, Chanders shared two important partnerships as he registered his 27th half-century in Regional First Class cricket for Guyana in his 109th innings. He and Fudadin added 66 for the fourth wicket and then dominated the 74-run fifth wicket stand with Reifer as he increased his FC career aggregate to 25,399 runs.
Inspired by Chanderpaul’s fluency and authoritative strokeplay, all-rounders Reifer and Christopher Barnwell punished the Red Force bowlers and posted 124 for the sixth wicket partnership before both were dismissed within the space of four runs.
Barnwell, who looked set for a big one; was first to depart from centre stage with a blistering 75 (124m, 98b, 11x4s) while Reifer made 64 (230m, 184b, 5x4s). The Jaguars lost three quick wickets with Barnwell dismissed by Yannick Ottley who also picked up Anthony Bramble at 447.
Four runs later, off-spinner Narsingh Deonarine removed the dangerous Reifer for 64, smartly stumped by Katwaroo while Ottley snapped up his third wicket when he scalped Ronsford Beaton, caught by Uhtam Muhammad for two.
Veerasammy Permaul 10 (29m, 19b, 1×4) and Gudakesh Motie 15 not out (10m, 9b, 3x4s) added a further 17 runs for the tenth wicket to give the Jaguars a challenging lead of 265.
Ottley 3 for 17 (7 overs), Deonarine 2 for 80 (33 overs) and Imram Khan 2 or 114 (29.1 overs) were the successful bowlers for the Red Force team whose middle and lower batsmen will be under immense pressure from the Guyanese bowlers who are determined to increase their lead at the top of the WICB PCL standings.